Something incredible and unique about the human experience is that our relationships and interactions with those around us define our lives. Humans thrive especially on communication and connection, and relationships with other people fundamentally shape and change our being. As my trip to Brazil winds to a close, I’ve been taking some time to reflect on the relationships cultivated throughout my time here.
This morning, we visited Locomotiva, which is a community music program that serves vulnerable youth in the Santo Andre area, providing several hours of music lessons before or after school hours. This Christian program serves over 300 local children, and some of their students go on to serve in top orchestras abroad. Something that really stood out to me about this program is how heavily the teachers and students value learning in group settings. Most of their classes occur in a group with their peers of the same instruments or in orchestras, where they learn to play music together as one cohesive unit. These teachers and their students represent what it means to develop relationships and the impact they have on each person involved.
The connections among the students and professors provide opportunities for community improvement and increase opportunities for youth in the program. The Locomotiva program provides an avenue for these children to form relationships that change their lives. The relationships I formed while visiting Locomotiva helped reinforce my thoughts regarding the universal nature of music.
After we visited Locomotiva, we enjoyed a delicious lunch at a Brazilian Barbecue restaurant and headed to the ETAPA high school for our closing session. There, we presented on various things we had learned during our trip and watched a video with messages from our host families and buddies. During this moment, through the collective sniffles and tears, I realized the true impact this experience had on me. The same revelation dawned on me that I had experienced at Locomotiva. While the experiences and places we visited had an impact on me, it’s truly the people with whom I formed relationships that have changed me the most. Before this trip, I had only spoken a few words to many of my classmates. I had only exchanged a few words over text with the buddies. But coming out the other side of this trip, I have newfound friendships with each and every person in this group. I have gotten to know each of them personally, and learn what makes all of them special and important to the world.
The new relationships I formed with those around me taught me things about myself too. I learned that you can never truly know someone until you spend time with them. I learned that everyone has an innate desire to find friendship and community. I learned that we all have a deep love and care for someone or something in our lives, even if someone appears to live completely carefree. While seeing Brazil opened my eyes to new cultures and experiences, it was the people around me who truly taught me the most and opened my eyes to new realizations. I now understand that it’s not necessarily the moments that change you, but the people in those moments. Experiences don’t change people, people change people.
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